plain Refult of right Reason admitted by all, practiced by few.

and

An ingenious Dramatick Author has confider'd Common Senfe as fo extraordinary a Thing, that he has lately, with great Wit and Humour, not only perfonified it, but dignified it too with the Title of a Queen -Tho' I am not fure that had I been to perfonify Common Senfe, I fhould have borrow'd my Figure from that Sex, yet as he has added the regál Dignity, which by the Law of the Land removes all Defects, I wave any Objection. -The Fair Sex in general (Queens excepted) are infinitely above plain downright Common Senfe; fprightly Fancy, and fhining Irregularities are their Favourites, in which defpairing to fatisfy, tho' defirous to please them, I have, in order to be of fome Ufe to them, ftipulated with my Stationer, that my Paper shall be of the propereft Sort for pinning up of their Hair; as the new French Fashion is very favourable to me in this Particular, I flatter myself, they will not difdain to have fome Common Sense about their Heads at fo eafy a Rate.

Should I ever, as poffibly I often may, be extremely dull, I will not, as fome of my Predeceffors have done, pretend that it was by Defign, for I proteft that I do not intend it; but in that Cafe I claim my Share in the prefent general Indulgence to Dulness, of being thought the wifer for it, and hope to meet with fympathetick Nods of Approbation from the most folid of my Readers. Moreover, I fhall go on the longer and the fafer for it, Dulness being the Ballaft of the Mind that fits it for a long Voyage, keeps it fleddy, and fecures it from the Gufts of Fancy and Imagination.

I can't help thinking how very advantageous it may be to a great many People to purchase my Paper, were 'it only for the fake of the Title.- Have you read Common Senfe?- Have you got Common Senfe? are Questions which one should be very forry not to be

able

able to answer in the Affirmative; and yet in order to be able to do it with Truth, a Precaution of this Kind may poffibly not be unneceffary, at least it can do no Hurt.

As to the Defign of my Paper, it is to take in all Subjects whatsoever, and try them by the Standard of Common Senfe.- I fhall erect a Kind of Tribunal, for the Crimina læfi Senfus Communis, or the Pleas of Common Senfe. But the Method of Proceeding must be different from that of other Courts, or it would be contrary to the Meaning and Inftitution of this. The Caufe of Common Senfe fhall be pleaded in Common Senfe.-Let not the Guilty hope to efcape, or the Innocent fear being puzzled, "delay'd, ruin'd, or condemn'd.

It would be endless for me to enumerate the various Branches of the Jurifdiction of this Court, fince every Thing more or less falls under its Cognizance.-The Poffeffion or the Want of Common Senfe appears proportionably in the loweft as well as in the highest Tranfactions, and a King and a Cobler without it will equally bungle in their refpective Callings.

The

Quicquid agunt Homines is my Province, and Homines comprehends not only all Men but all Women too (that is, as far as they are to be comprehended) the Conduct of the fair Sex will therefore come under my Confideration, but with this Indulgence, which is due to them, that in trying their Actions by the ftraight Rule of Common Senfe, I fhall make proper Allowances for thofe pretty Obliquities, and Deviations from it, which great Vivacity, lively Paffions, and confcious Beauty frequently occafion, and in fome meafure juftify.

The fine Gentlemen cannot hope to efcape Trial, were it only as Acceffories to their fair Principals. I am aware that they will cavil at the Jurifdiction of the Court, and will alledge (if they know how) that they are brought coram non Judice.I acknowledge too, that they have a prefumptive Kind of Exemption

B

B 3

from

from Inquiries and Profecutions of this Nature; but as this Connivance, if too long indulg'd, might grow into a Right, I must infift upon their appearing fometimes in Court, where they shall meet with all the Lenity that is due to their Birth and Education.

But let all Authors, from Right Honourable, or Right Reverend, down to the humbleft Inhabitant of Grubftreet, refpect and tremble at the Jurifdiction of the Court.- With them I difclaim all Lenity, as they are generally the moft daring and boldeft Of fenders, I fhall try them by my Rule, as the Tyrant Procraftes try'd his Subjects by his Bed; and will without Mercy ftretch out thofe that fall fhort of it, and cut off from those who go beyond it.

I am fenfible that Common Senfe has lately met with very great Difcouragement in the noble Science of Politicks, our chief Profeffors having thought themfelves much above those obvious Rules that had been follow'd by our Ancestors, and that lay open to vulgar Understandings; they have weigh'd the Interefts of Europe in nicer Scales, and fettled them in fo delicate a Balance, that the leaft Blaft affects it. For my part, Lihall endeavour to bring them back to the old folid English Standard of Common Senfe; but if by that Means any Gentlemen who diftinguish themfelves in that fublime Sphere, fhould be at a Lofs for Bufinefs, and appear totally unqualified for it, I hope they will not lay their Misfortunes to my Charge, fince it is none of my Fault if their Interefts and those of Common Senfe happen to be incompatible.

If in Domeftick Affairs too I fhould find that Common Senfe has been neglected, I fhall take the Liberty to affert its Rights, and reprefent the Juftice as well as the Expediency of reftoring it to its former Credit and Dignity.- Our Conftitution is founded upon Common Sense itself, and every Deviation from one is a Violation of the other.The feveral Degrees and Kinds of Power, wifely allotted to the feveral confti

tuent

tuent Parts of our Legiflature, can only be altered by those who have no more Common Senfe than Common Honefty. Such Offenders fhall be proceeded against as guilty of High-Treafon, and fuffer the fevereft Punishment.

I forefee all the Difficulties I am to struggle with in the Course of this Undertaking, and fee the Improbability, if not the Impoffibility that Common Senfe fhould fingly by its own Weight and Merit make its Way into the World, and retrieve its loft Empire. But as many valuable Things in themselves have owed their Reception and Establishment not to their own intrinfick Worth, but to fome lucky Hit, or favourable Concurrence of Circumftances, fo fome fuch Accident my Favour is what I more rely upon than the Merit of my Paper, fhould it have any..

in

-Fashion, which prevails no body knows how, can introduce what Reason would in vain recommend; and as by the Circulation of Fafhions, the old ones revive after a certain Interval, the Fashion of Common Sense seems to have been laid afide long enough to have a fair Chance now for Revival.

If therefore any fine Woman, in good Humour on a Saturday Morning, wou'd be pleas'd to drop a Word in my Favour, and fay, It is a good Comical Paper; or any Man of Quality, at the Head of Tafte, be fo kind as to fay, It is not a bad Thing, I fhould become the Fashion, and be univerfally bought up at leaft; and as for being read or not, it is other People's Bufinefs, not mine.

As I am fcrupulous even to Delicacy in all my Engagements, I muft premife, that in intitling my Paper Common Senfe, I only mean the first half Sheet, or it may be a Column of the next; the rest of the Paper, which will contain the Events Foreign and Domeftick, I am very far from promifing fhall have any Relation at all to Common Senfe. But as the chief Profits of a Weekly Writer arife from thence, the World, which

at

at least reasons very juftly upon that Subject, would, I am fure, think that I wanted Common Senfe myself, if I neglected them,

Upon the whole, my Intention is to rebuke Vice, correct Errors, reform Abuses, and fhame Folly and Prejudice, without Regard to any Thing but Common Senfe; which as it implies common Decency too, I fhall confine myself to Things, and not attack Perfons; it being my Defire to improve or amufe every body, without fhocking any body.

I don't think it neceffary, at leaft yet, to give the Publick any Information as to my Perfon; let my Paper ftand upon its own Legs. My present Refolution is to keep my Name conceal'd, unless my Succefs fhould fome Day or other tempt my Vanity to difcover it.- All I will fay at prefent is, that I never appeared in Print before, and if I fhould not meet with fome Incouragement now, I fhall withdraw myfelf to my former Retirements, and there indulge thofe Oddneffes that compofe my Character, the Defcription of which, if I go on, may fome Timé or other entertain my Readers.

SATURDAY, February 12, 1737.

S

INCE the Tribunal is erected, wherein all Caufes from the higheft to the lowest Degree, affecting Society (a1 not cognizable in other Courts) are to be tried, let this Deference be fhew'd to our Country, to hear firft that Cause wherein the Inhabitants of Great Britain, in their collective and feparate Capacity, are chiefly concern'd.

Let